Weiner Mihályné szerk.: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum Évkönyvei 12. (Budapest, 1970)

HOPP FERENC MÚZEUM — MUSÉE FERENC HOPP - Ferenczy, László: The Problems of Asian Collections in Western Museum

number of objects relating to a historical period or to a branch of art of any Asian country is necessarily much smaller than in the case of European art. Some periods may be well represented by the collection of a given museum but there are mostly grave lacunae. These gaps may not be obvious to the visitors of a museum but their curators are deeply aware of them. Only a handful of museums can be proud of some examples of T'ang porcelaine, while most museums possess no example of them at all. This also holds for the case of old Japanese art, as only three or four Western museums have an adequate collection of Japanese art prior to the 17th century. No Western museum is able to demonstrate the artistic development of any Asian country in such a degree as the art of European countries. To accomplish this, with promising results, even at an exhibition of limited range, several museums should unite their pieces for the exhibition. We met therefore with great joy the idea of a large exhibition of Buddhist art from the collections of European socialist states to be arranged next year at Berlin, in the Pergamon Museum and we feel happy that we can contribute to to this exhibition. As a conclusion we may safely say that the tasks and roles of museums having Asian collections are rather complex and full of problems. I read therefore with great attention the motion of the 7th General Conference of the International Council of Museums which refers to the problems of museums. The museums play a great and noble role all over the world in the introduction of Asian culture and in the achievement of mutual understanding among different nations of the world. The founders, donators and curators of these museums, besides their work done in the home country, have contributed much to the discovery of Oriental art in the West and to the development of archaeology and history of art in several Asian countries. As to the pure scientific study and aesthetic appreciation of Asian art, we are only well aware how many different fields, areas and branches of Asian art lie still open, waiting to be discovered or worked out yet. And this is the most cherished part of our work, the discovery and study of Asian art. Let us hope that this our work will contribute to the understanding among various peoples and nations, and let us work together to achieve this goal. And to this I wish you all, ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues, much success and strength at the occasion of the 50eth anniversary of the Francis Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic art.